[BangPypers] Python is still greek to india's top IT firms

[Asif Jamadar]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-Indias-top-IT-firms/articleshow/41535783.cms<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/jobs/Python-is-still-greek-to-Indias-top-IT-firms/articleshow/41535783.cms>

NEW DELHI: Recently, one of India's top software companies was faced with quandary. It had won a $200 million (Rs 1,200 crore) contract to develop an app store for a large US bank, but did not have adequate numbers of programmers who could write code in Python, the language most suited for the job. Eventually, it paid thrice the billing rate to a group of freelance Python programmers in the US. And learned a valuable lesson about the importance of a language named after the British television comedy series Monty Python.

For a nation regarded as a software programming powerhouse, the episode has salutary lessons. While skills in traditional computer languages meant for stitching software applications and maintaining large mainframe computers are a strength, ignoring Python could prove to be a costly mistake.

"Because companies like Infosys<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infosys-technologies-ltd/stocks/companyid-10960.cms> and TCS prefer proprietary languages like Java or dot NET most students think of these as an option in college. That is the reason you don't get good quality talent in the industry to work with us in Python," said Jofin Joseph, cofounder and chief operating officer of Profoundis, a Kochi-based technology startup which has been struggling for about a year to hire young Python programmers.